President-elect Donald Trump will nominate longtime ally GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida to serve as his attorney general, according to a social media post on his Truth Social account.
“Matt is a deeply gifted and tenacious attorney, trained at the William & Mary College of Law, who has distinguished himself in Congress through his focus on achieving desperately needed reform at the Department of Justice,” Trump wrote Wednesday.
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Gaetz currently represents Florida’s 1st District in the House of Representatives, an office he’s held since 2017.
“Matt will end Weaponized Government, protect our Borders, dismantle Criminal Organizations and restore Americans’ badly shattered Faith and Confidence in the Justice Department,” Trump said.
Responding to Trump’s announcement, Gaetz said, “It will be an honor to serve as President Trump’s Attorney General!”
If confirmed, Gaetz would lead the Justice Department — a federal agency of more than 100,000 employees — and oversee its numerous investigative components, including the FBI. Gaetz’s ascent to the Justice Department’s top job will come at a unique time, after Mr. Trump spent all of his 2024 presidential campaign under federal investigation or prosecution.
In a confirmation process, Gaetz would likely face questions about an ongoing review by the bipartisan House Ethics Committee, which said in a statement earlier this year it was looking into allegations that Gaetz may have “engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, accepted improper gifts, dispensed special privileges and favors to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship, and sought to obstruct government investigations of his conduct.”
Gaetz has denied all wrongdoing and maintained his innocence throughout a Justice Department probe — closed last year — into allegations that he violated sex trafficking laws and obstructed justice. Federal prosecutors in Florida did not file any charges in the case and informed the congressman that the case was closed.
Senators, who will vote on his confirmation, began to weigh in as they learned of Trump’s intent to nominate Gaetz.
“This one was not on my bingo card,” GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska told reporters. “I don’t think this is a serious nomination for attorney general. We need to have a serious attorney general.”
Senate Republican conference Chair John Barrasso, when asked by reporters about Gaetz, said, “The president is going to continue to make his appointments. We’re going to continue to look forward to them coming to the Senate and have hearings and get his Cabinet confirmed as quickly as possible.”
Gaetz, who has served on the House Judiciary Committee and has been a vocal critic of the Biden administration, would take over the post as the first confirmed attorney general under a Trump presidency since Bill Barr. Barr resigned in 2020 when then-President Trump sought to remain in power after he lost the election. Barr left office at the end of that year and was replaced by an acting attorney general, Jeff Rosen. Rosen and a number of his subordinates later testified against Trump during a hearing of the House select committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol. The former officials alleged that Trump had sought to pressure the Justice Department to investigate his claims of election fraud.
During the Biden administration, Attorney General Merrick Garland has sought to distance himself and the department from the White House after Trump’s first term. Justice Department norms and regulations have been consistent themes of Garland’s public comments throughout the nearly four years he has served under President Biden.
Garland, a former federal judge, appointed numerous special counsels to conduct investigations into high-profile figures, including Mr. Biden, his son Hunter and Mr. Trump.
Gaetz’s expected nomination comes as some of the president-elect’s supporters have called for change inside the Justice Department. Attorney Mark Paoletta, who was thought to be in the running to serve as Mr. Trump’s attorney general, said, “Career DOJ lawyers must be fully committed to implementing President Trump’s policies or they should leave or be fired.”
“If the president wants to deport illegal aliens, secure the border, ban race-based ‘affirmative action’ and DEI, investigate antisemitism, halt Big Tech censorship, grant pardons and commutations to Jan 6th defendants, he has every right to expect that these perfectly lawful policies are implemented,” Paoletta wrote. “It is absolutely unacceptable for career employees to seek to thwart this policy agenda.”
Michael Kaplan,
and
Kaia Hubbard
contributed to this report.
